Lussier ’98, McCarthy ’01 Join University Faculty

Two Wesleyan alumni who wrote Ph.D dissertations on Russian politics have recently accepted tenure-track jobs in political science departments.

Russian and East European studies major Danielle Lussier ’98, will be an assistant professor at Grinnell College, where she will be replacing Robert Grey ’61. Lussier wrote her B.A. thesis on the women’s movement in contemporary Russia, and her Ph.D at the University of California, Berkeley on a comparison of civil society and political mobilization in Russian and Indonesia.

College of Social Studies major Lauren McCarthy ’01 will be an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She wrote her B.A. thesis on superpower rivalry in the Olympics during the Cold War, and her Ph.D at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on human trafficking in Russia.

Lussier and McCarthy former students of Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of government, professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies, tutor in the College of Social Studies.